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“It was, until Dad took away the privilege”

“That right?”

He nodded “You ever hear about the night of the Gray junior prom? The one where there was a fire that kind of broke out?”

My eyes ide as the memory came back “Yeah Lots of parents from the nice part of town had to pick their kids up for MIPs that night”

“Yep And this is the roo after that night”

“Bad, bad kid”

“Hey, like I said, I was a different guy back then”

I al about hoasn’t that different—after all, he hadn’t totally given up his wo it wasn’t worth bringing up

Then again, if he was pulling soed?

“OK,” he said, sitting back in the couch “You do so?”

“A little on the way over I don’t know I’m hardly sold on the idea”

“I get that Nothing you need to rush into Though…”

“Though?”

“The faster you decide, the better I’d love to announce this thing before Christmas”

“You mean in the next few days?”

“That’s exactly what Iabout handing the company over”

“Won’t he suspect so? How you found someone so quickly after he told you his ultimatum?”

“Maybe Or irl I knew back in high school who I’d always had a little thing for We’d gotten together, and the irl next door was the perfect woman for me”

He grinned, seely proud of his tale

“Very cute Like so out of a Hallmark movie”

Again he raised an eyebrow in surprise, as if I’d said soo

“Anyway What do you think?”

“I don’t know I feel like I need more time to consider it I mean, even if I did say ‘yes,’ which I most certainly haven’t done yet, there’s still the h with it, you know?”

“Youpart?”

“I ers or anything like that, but we’re not—”

“A couple”